A murderer who stomped his friend to death in Chester has been found dead in prison.

Wesley Rowlands, 33, passed away at HMP Garth in Lancashire on October 14.

Rowlands was jailed for life, with a minimum of 15 years, for killing David Lavender in Handbridge in 2012.

He had two years added to his sentence for stabbing a prison guard in 2015.

An investigation will now take place into his death.

A Prison Service spokeswoman said: “HMP Garth prisoner Wesley Rowlands died in custody on Friday, October 14.

“As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”

Rowlands, previously of Westminster Road, Ellesmere Port and Chevron Close, Blacon , Chester, killed his friend on a pub crawl on May 20, 2012.

Mr Lavender, a father-of-three, objected to him urinating on a landlady’s dog.

David Lavender
David Lavender

Rowlands then launched his prolonged attack in a drunken rage in Edgar’s Field Park.

He kicked and stamped on his 37-year-old victim and left him for dead.

Judge Elgan Edwards described it as a ‘brutal’ assault as he handed down the life sentence in 2013.

Rowlands was convicted last December of wounding the 46-year-old prison officer at HMP Liverpool.

He had stabbed the guard, who had to be signed off from work, in the chest with a homemade knife.